Take My Hand
by KaramelKat
Summary: Set In OoTP thru DH a series of scenes all based on Luna & Neville interaction that we never got to see.  Based on the Movie version with a tiny bit of the book used.*Used to be a one shot - now will be a collection of drabbles*
1. Chapter 1

_I must not disobey the rules._

_I must not disobey the rules._

_I must not disobey the rules._

Luna's right hand held the instrument of her torture. Her left hand had gone numb from pain hours ago when Dumbledore's Army had first started to write the lines required by Dolores Umbridge, the new Headmaster of Hogwarts.

It was their group punishment for being a member of Dumbledore's Army. The faces of her classmates around her were filled with the same solemn pain she knew was reflected on her own. Dennis Creevy's face was streaked with tears; the youngest member of the D.A. had succumbed to them first.

Luna heard heavy breathing behind her. A glance over her shoulder revealed Angelina Johnson had put her head down on her desk once again. The seventh year Gryffindor was not handling well, the sight of her own blood on the back of her hand.

There was a slight sound from the front of the room. It was that silly little amused two syllable giggle that Umbridge used to draw attention to herself. While the students were flaying their skin open with her punishment quills, the professor herself was seated upon Dumbledore's throne in the Great Hall, sipping tea from a service tray.

All eyes looked up towards the new Headmaster. Luna noticed that Fred and George Weasley off to her right were glaring daggers at the woman. She hoped they would have enough sense not to draw attention to themselves and gain further punishment.

Once every student's head had raised from their writing, Umbridge stood up from her chair. She laced her fingers together primly in front of her and stated, "I trust an impression has been made with your lines." She was pouring salt in the wounds on their hands. "The rules at Hogwarts have been set forth by the Ministry for the safety of the students and must be obeyed." Her sharp toned voice rang out over the hall as she said, "You may go." 

Luna set down the quill. Students were leaving their seats like someone had set a firecracker off underneath them. She stood to her feet and glanced down at her hand. Some of the blood had dried, but rivulets from fresh wounds were still welling out of the deep lines made of her own handwriting.

As she left the hall, she noticed Cho Chang was waiting for them at the entry to the stairway. Nobody spoke to her fellow Ravenclaw as they silently passed her, some deliberately bumping into her on purpose. Luna paused in her walk, looking at Cho's face which was a mixture of apology and sorrow for what she had done.

She felt a modicum of pity for Cho. The entire D.A. was mad at her. Her pity didn't last as the numbness wore off in her hand and the painful burn of her punishment reminded her Cho was the reason for it. She walked past Cho heading up the grand staircase.

Ravenclaw Tower entrance was on the fifth floor but Luna didn't go back to her house just yet. She climbed the stairs heading to the Astronomy Tower. She wasn't tired and she wanted to comfort herself with the stars in the night sky. She ascended the tall staircase, keeping an eye out for the Bloody Baron who liked to haunt the corridor and also Filch who loved to catch students out of bed past curfew.

At the top, she stepped out onto the terrace that was surrounded by a parapet on all sides. The stone was wet, the rain during the day having left its footprints behind. Sometime during their punishment the sky had cleared up and the stars were visible. Luna made her way over to the waist length wall, leaning forward over it, tilting her head back to get a view of the sky overhead.

It was easier to forget the burning sting on her left hand when the stars of the galazy winked back at you from high above. She could spot Cygnus straight off and Polaris, the latter being her favorite wishing star.

"_Star light, star bright, brightest star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have my wish I make tonight."_

She was in the middle of making her wish when a footstep echoed on the stairwell behind her. Luna whirled to face the stairwell noiselessly, debating if she had time to hide before Filch or Mrs. Norris found her and gained her further detention with Umbridge.

The footsteps did not belong to Filch or his tabby colored, long-furred cat. The face that was coming up the corridor was a familiar member of the Army with her and one that she would call a kindred spirit.

"Hello Neville," she greeted when he emerged onto the rampart with her. Her body which had been taut with tension and fear at getting caught where she wasn't supposed to be, relaxed at his presence.

"Hello Luna," his voice was soft like hers and held a note of surprise as he said, "I didn't expect to see anyone up here."

"Neither did I," Luna admitted with a smile. "But I suppose I'm not the only one who knows this is the best spot in the castle for wishing."

"For what?"

"Wishing on the stars," Luna turned to lean on the parapet again, her head tilting back as her eyes sought out Polaris again. She glanced at Neville and then pointed upward at the Northernmost star in the sky.

Her movement did not go unnoticed by Neville whose eyes were not on the star she pointed at, but the blood and scars on the top of her left hand. They were identical in words, if not in the actual handwriting, to the ones on his hand. "Merlin's Beard Luna!" He snatched her hand out of the sky, turning it over to examine the welts. "Why haven't you cleaned your hand up?" His own wound had already been washed, disinfected and treated.

"I was going to," Luna said softly as Neville examined her hand. She watched him as he produced a handkerchief from his pocket. There was a puddle of water still settled on one stone brick of the wall and he dabbed the piece of cloth in the water. Still holding her hand, he began to clean the dried blood from her skin.

Once had had cleaned the blood away she could see that the bleeding had stopped though the wound was no less angry a red as it had been earlier. Neville was being sweet, carefully soothing the wound as he said, "You need to put Dittany on this." 

Luna nodded her head, her radish earrings shaking with the movement. "I will," she promised. She peered up at Neville from beneath her blonde bangs, canting her head sideways as she asked, "You don't regret signing your name do you?" No need to ask where they had signed their name. She had been just behind him in line when Hermoine had asked them to 'sign up' their names on the list of students named Dumbledore's Army. She had signed her name upside down underneath his so that it was legible to Ron, Hermoine and Harry who had been sitting across the table from where she stood.

Neville brought his own hand up, holding it alongside her own. They stared at the lines on their hand. _I must not disobey the rules._ Neville's dark eyes were shadowed by his dark brown bangs as he looked at her and said, "Not a chance I'd ever regret that."

A small understanding smile lit up Luna's face as she replied, "Me too." She slipped her hand out of his as she turned once more to peer up at the stars above. Her musical voice lilted slightly as she said, "My father actually was quite proud of me for joining the D.A." She glanced at Neville and asked, "Your parents won't be upset will they?"

She watched as his gaze fell to the stone, his round face growing sorrowful as he replied, "My parents won't be upset. They can't feel anything like that."

Luna's pale brows drew together as she asked, "What do you mean?" She didn't know too much about Neville. She knew he was a Gryffindor, a fifth year, and that he liked plants; some of the girls in the D.A. had told her he was an ace at herbology. She knew it had taken him some time to master the Expelliarmus spell and that he had worked twice as hard as anyone else in the D.A. Other than the meetings in the D.A. though, she really hadn't had much of an opportunity to talk to him and get to know him.

"I live with my grandmother," Neville told her a moment later. "She won't mind that I joined Dumbledore's Army. Actually she'd probably throw me a party in honor of it." That would be like Augusta Longbottom, to tout the fact her grandson had finally grown a spine and did something for the greater good.

"That's good that she would understand," Luna agreed and then apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you had lost your parents Neville." She paused and then said, "My Mum died when I was nine." She would never forget the explosion, her mother's body flying backwards and hitting the wall, her eyes which had been so bright and happy, dull and lifeless.

Neville inhaled sharply at her admission and then his own voice was apologetic as he corrected his mistake. "They haven't died." His voice held a note she couldn't identify until later as guilt as he said, "They were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix LeStrange. They're both permanent patients in St. Mungo's no thanks to her." He let out a shuddered breath, trying to maintain a hold on his hurt and anger but it escaped in his voice as he told her, "Now she's broken free of Azkaban and she's going to hurt someone just as badly or worse." 

Luna could see his emotions flit across his face. She involuntarily reached out with her good hand to squeeze the his unwounded one. He glanced down at her, his lips pursed in worry and concern. She was seeking to console him as she said, "Then what we've learned from Harry Potter will be so that she can't hurt anyone ever again." Her lips curved up slightly in a smile of encouragement as she said, "We'll make it so." 

She could see hope blooming in his eyes at her words and her smile widened knowing they had the effect to change his frown upside down. He whispered, "Do you promise?" looking so lost for a moment she felt her heart heart for his sorrows.

"I promise," she said nearly at a whisper in answer to his question, squeezing his hand again.

When they left the astronomy tower, she felt she knew Neville just a little bit better and unbeknownst to her, he had just developed a massive crush on a girl who had made him incredibly nervous just months before on the fateful day they had met.

Fate is strange like that.


	2. Chapter 2

Luna had been walking with her friend Ginny Weasley in the hallway when shouting from behind a closed classroom door had caught their attention. "That's Harry's voice. What's he on about?" Ginny had asked Luna. It may have been a rhetoric question but Luna had shrugged anyways. Their curiosity got the better of them and they had opened the door to inquire.

It seemed Harry was insisting he needed to get in touch with Sirius Black, the true alias of the famous singer Stubby Boardman. Harry seemed to think Stubby was in grave danger because of Lord Voldemort and the only way to confirm this was through the Floo Network in Umbridge's office. Ginny had promptly volunteered her and Luna's services as guards and subterfuge.

As Luna was a terrible liar, she let Ginny come up with the story to keep students out of the corridor to the Headmaster's office. Ron, Hermoine and Harry had snuck in while Ginny was making up stories of a gas leak to keep the other students away. It was all working very well, Luna herding the younger students away from the corridor and reminding them, "Mind you don't step on any Nargles while you go." She had just turned away three more second years from Hufflepuff when her arm was grabbed and she was spun around.

She found herself looking at a rather large, stocky boy with an Inquisitorial Squad badge on his robes. Vaguely she could recall he was a Chaser on the Slytherin Quidditch team and in his final year at Hogwarts but Luna could not put a name with his face. Wellerman? Wakerton? Wellington? Whoever he was, he had a brusing grip on her wand arm, twisting it and forcing a physical disarm of her wand.

"I got this one Warrington!" Luna did recognize the dark head of Pansy Parkinson who had a hold of Ginny. The redhead was putting up a good struggle, the same height as Pansy. The ensuing scuffle was noisy, both girls grunting as they attempted to wrestle each other.

Luna's captor, now identified as Warrington, had turned her face into the wall and pinned her arm behind her back. "This is really uncomfortable," she felt the need to inform him, not fighting against his hold the way Ginny was tearing it up with Pansy.

"Shut up Looney!" He had snarled, watching Pansy and Ginny. Pansy had a fistful of Ginny's bright red hair, pulling on it while Ginny was kicking Pansy's shins.

"Leave her alone!"

Luna recognized the voice, even if she couldn't turn her head to see the owner, her cheek prone to the wall where she was being held. From within her limited vision of Pansy and Ginny she could see their fight had attracted the attention of one Neville Longbottom and within a few seconds he had passed from behind her and Warrington into her view, attempting to stun Pansy off of Ginny. It wasn't easy though as the two girls were grappling with each other and he couldn't get a clear shot without possibly hitting Ginny.

"_Expelliarmus_!"

Neville's wand flew from his hand as Draco Malfoy came around the corner, aiming his wand at the tall Gryffindor. Luna was yanked away from the wall as Warrington held his wand to her throat. "Stop fighting Pansy or Looney gets it!" He threatened his voice clearly meant for Ginny. He dug the point of his wand deeper into Luna's throat. It hurt, but she didn't make a noise as her silvery grey eyes locked on Ginny and Neville. Draco was gripping Neville's upper arm, his wand pointed at the Gryffindor's head. He was at a slight disadvantage in height and size to Neville, but Neville looked more afraid of Draco than the Slytherin did of him.

The three of them were forced to walk down the hall, up the stairs and into Umbridge's office. Umbridge was already in there with Crabbe and Goyle. They had caught Harry, Ron, and Hermoine, the first of which who was seated in a chair. The other two were being held by Crabbe and Goyle. Warrington walked Luna over to the far wall as Draco shoved Neville inside saying, "Caught this one trying to help the Weasley girl." 

Luna's mind drifted, wondering what punishment would befall the six of them, as she half listened to Umbridge threatening Harry Potter. Severus Snape had come in at one point and she was surprised as the others had been to find out that Cho Chang had been coerced with Veritaserum to tell on the D.A's secrets. She felt a tiny twinge of guilt for the way she'd been ignoring her fellow housemate since the incident, but she couldn't deny the scars that remained on her hand were at the fault of Cho.

"Tell her Harry!"

Luna's musings were interrupted as she listened to Hermoine and Umbridge discuss a secret weapon made by Dumbledore. Luna glanced at Ginny, Ron and Neville who looked as bewildered as she felt at the mention of this weapon. What was Hermoine talking about? What weapon? And why was it hidden in the Forbidden Forest?

It was a good place to hide things, Luna had to admit as she drifted off into her own thoughts again. Harry and Hermoine left with Umbridge, while Luna was composing a letter to her father in her head, to let him know that Dumbledore had constructed a secret weapon to defeat Cornelius Fudge. That would be good news for their readers and also the goblins at Gringotts. She knew, just as her father had published, that Fudge had been trying for years to get his hands on Gringott's, terrorizing the poor goblins inside and secretly murdering them. If Dumbledore had a weapon against Fudge, the goblins were sure to support the Headmaster's side.

A little while later her thoughts were interrupted again as her stomach gave a low growl, reminding her she hadn't eaten. Even though her stomach had already talked for her, Luna felt the need to speak up as she said, "I'm hungry. What do you think they're eating in the Great Hall tonight?"

Her words, spoken so casually and contrary to a manner of someone under the threat of a wand pointed at her throat, caused the others to give her that pained expression she saw so often on the other students. It was usually followed by _"Looney's done it again!" _She could see the Slytherin's sneering at her, Malfoy gearing up for some a malicious comment, likely about the irony of her being in Ravenclaw and an idiot as he always called her.

Before he could speak though, Goyle piped up in his deep, baritone voice admitting, "I'm hungry too." Without a hostage since Hermoine had left with Harry and Umbridge, he was standing in front of the door with his arms crossed in front of him.

"I think I heard the house-elves say they were making a treacle tart tonight for dessert," Luna shared that information with Goyle whose eyes lit up with the same excitement she felt over the scrumptious honey-flavored treat. She smiled, seeing a kindred treat lover in the stout Slytherin 5th year.

"I really like it when they make milk cake," Goyle said to her.

"Are you both nutters!" Malfoy interjected, his lips curled back in digust over their conversation. "Goyle! Don't talk to Looney! She'll have you spouting nonsense too!" His harsh scolding caused Pansy, Warrington and Crabbe to laugh uproariously over his words and Goyle flushed red with embarrassment.

"I am hungry," Luna said in her soft voice, lost under the laughter of the Slytherins. Her feet were starting to get tired of standing still. She shifted slightly, a pins and needles sensation starting in her feet and working its way up her legs. She glanced at the faces around her. Neville was looking dejected that he had been unable to help her and Ginny escape the Inquisitorial Squad. Ginny was flushed with anger from being caught and Ron...

Luna tried to figure out the look on Ron's face. He was looking at her with a bemused expression on his face but his eyes were also giving off a crafty look like he had figured something out. What was he planning?

"Hey Luna," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few pieces of wrapped chocolate candies. "I've got some candy here if you're hungry." 

"Oh, thank you Ron," Luna said this sweetly to him with a smile as she held her hand out, ready to accept the chocolates from him.

"I'll have those!" Crabbe snatched the chocolates from Ron's hands before they could even be passed to Luna. Luna's smile fell from her face as Crabbe handed a chocolate to each one of the squad members.

Luna mourned the loss of food temporarily as the squad members each devoured a piece. She glanced at Ron, expecting him to be mad but he had the most peculiar expression of his face. His eyes were avidly watching each of the squad members he could see, a slight tilt upward to his lips. It almost seemed he was laughing at them.

She didn't have to wait long to find out why as Fred and George Weasley's puking pastilles went to work. Pansy, the smallest was the first to let go of Ginny, her face a nasty shade of puce as she raced over to Umbridge's trash bin, hurling up her stomach.

"What's wrong Pansy?" Draco asked, his wand shaking, his forehead starting to sweat. He didn't look so good either, his face shiny and pale. Pansy didn't answer, too busy upchucking.

Goyle started to heave and quickly strode out of the room. Crabbe didn't get a chance to leave the room, hurrying towards Pansy and trying to shove her out of the way so he could puke too.

Neville grabbed Draco's shaky hand and quickly disarmed him with an elbow to the stomach. At this point Warrington and Draco began to hurl, Ron laughing at their reactions, Ginny and Neville looking sick themselves. Luna was merely fascinated by the reaction. She had never seen a group of people throw up together before.

Ron collected their wands back from the Inquisitorial Squad as well as Harry and Hermoine's. "Come on then!" he said leaving Umbridge's office. They followed him.

"That was brilliant Ron!" Ginny's own brief disgust at the scene they had left behind, evaporated once they were clear of the pukers. They passed Goyle in the hallway, hurling his lunch into the metal boot of a suit of armor. The armor was objecting to this by repeatedly whacking him on the back of the head with an iron fist.

The quartet made their way through the corridors. Luna's legs were shorter than the others and she began a funny hop, skip every second stride to help her keep up with them. Neville noticed this bizzare walk and slowed down to ask "Are you okay Luna?"

"Oh yes," she smiled at him, pleased at his friendly concern. "Just trying to keep up. You and Ron are both so very tall." Even Ginny had a height advantage on her.

Neville flushed slightly and muttered an apology, slowing his walk down in favor of her shorter legged steps.

"Oh don't slow down or we'll never catch up to Ron," Luna advised reaching out her hand and slipping hers into his own. "Come on then! Let's run together." She flashed him her best smile before breaking into a sprint and pulling a more red-faced Neville behind her.

Her smile had outshone the sun and stunned Neville momentarily into a large blush. When he finally recovered from the shock of her beautifully, sunny visage he managed to make his uncoordinated feet cooperate with his body to keep up with Luna's pace down the stairs. He was happy to make it all the way down without stumbling once.

When they got to the bottom in the Great Hall entryway, to Neville's disappointment she let go of his hand. He realized at once why she had done so as he followed her gaze which had zeroed in on the house-elves bearing trays of food.

Luna passed by a house-elf carrying a tray of treacle tarts and snagged one for herself with a flick of her wand. _"Accio Treacle!"_

The pastry floated to her and she crammed it into her mouth as they ran down the steps into the courtyard and hurried across to the sturdy, twisted, covered bridge. The sun was slowly sliding down towards the mountains as they ran across the bridge, the intent to follow Harry and Hermoine into the Forbidden Forest. Halfway down the bridge they noticed two other students were running towards them.

Each of them slowed down as they realized it was Harry and Hermoine running towards them. They stopped before each other, each group catching their breath from hurrying. Harry told their tale of the escape from Umbridge in the forest, keeping it short beause of his worry for Stubby Boardman. He explained to Luna, Ginny and Neville about his vision seeing his godfather attacked and how he needed to get to the ministry as fast as possible. Only he didn't really know how to get there.

Luna felt a quirky smile come to her lips as she knew exactly the soluation to Harry Potter's dilemna. "We fly of course."

**-HP-**

**Kat's Note: So this was supposed to be a one-shot but I have decided to turn it into a small drabble series about Luna & Neville and lots of handholding with maybe more to come XD But it will all be centered around holding hands at some point in each chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

Luna hurried back into the Great Hall with Hermoine to retrieve raw meat for the Thestrals in the forest. Luna had led them into the clearing where she had first talked one-on-one with Harry that first time last autumn. She and Harry had assisted the others with finding a thestral and soon they were all airborn.

Flying by thestral was fantastic. Luna made a promise to herself she would have a Thestral of her very own once she was old enough. Harry Potter may have preferred a broomstick but she rather liked leaning over the dark, skeletal neck of the thestral and hearing the whooshing sound made by its wings as it flew higher into the air.

She leaned forward on her thestral, veering it to the left and smiling serenely at Harry before falling back. Neville was clinging precariously to his thestral and Luna called out, "Relax Neville. She won't let you fall!" 

"I don't think she has any choice in the matter!" Neville's pale face looked back at her, scared at the possibility of falling off. Luna smiled encouragingly at him and patted her thestral's neck. "Use your thighs to grip her sides better," she called out.

She helped each of them like that on the way to London, reassuring Ginny, Ron and Hermoine who were all terrified. They could feel the thestral beneath them, but they couldn't see it. Ginny and Ron were used to flying because of Quidditch but Hermoine was having the worst time. Luna finally advised her to close her eyes against the world flying below her empty looking, outstretched legs and rely completely on her sense of touch to ride the thestral she couldn't see beneath her.

Eventually they set down in London and behind the Ministry at the visitor's entrance with the red telephone booth. Harry had been there before and they all squeezed into the little booth. It took them directly into the center of the Ministry's atrium.

Harry led them out, running quickly. They all followed after him and Luna's shorter legs tended to cause her to lag behind the others at a slight disadvantage. She smiled at Neville who kept pausing his strides every few seconds so that she could keep up. She still remained behind the rest of them.

They made their way down to the level in the Department of Mysteries where Harry swore Sirius was being attacked. Entering a dark room full of green, glowing orbs, the six Hogwarts students still had to light the tips of their wands to see properly. "_Lumos!"_

Luna tilted her head up, mouth open slightly at the sight of so many bright, round spheres. There was a whisper of sound next to her and she turned to stare at a large green-lit round ball, a strange fog enshrouded within the orb. It was followed by a loud thud that caused them all to whip their heads towards the door they had just come through. It was closed, seeming to cut off any escape route.

They all followed Harry as he counted out the rows, muttering each number, until he came to the one where Sirius had been attacked. There was no evidence of a struggle. The floor was clean, the ground empty and the spot undisturbed.

"I know he was here!" Harry swore.

"Harry!" Neville was staring up at a glowing ball in one of the shelves, "It's got your name on it."

Luna moved closer to Ginny as Harry retrieved the orb from the shelf. He seemed entranced by the ball, hearing something the others could not as the fog swirled in the glass.

A glimmer within the darkness of the pathways caught Luna's eye. She turned, nudging Ginny as she did so. Both girls turned, Ginny inhaling sharply at what she was seeing. A figure in a black cloak, the silver glimmer of a Death Eater mask hiding the features of the man behind it.

"Harry!"

The figure removed his mask, proving himself to be Lucius Malfoy. While he and Harry spoke of the prophecy orb Harry held in his hand, one more figure appeared out of the dark, moving towards them. Luna lifted her wand, her mind running through the many hexes, charms and spells that they had practiced in the Room of Requirements. She was momentarily distracted when she heard Neville's voice call out, "Bellatrix LeStrange!"

Luna chanced to glance at Neville whose face was clearly distraught at coming face to face with his family's worst enemy. She looked back at the taunting, dark haired witch, half hidden by Malfoy's robes, her mad laughter turning to anger when Harry dared to say Voldemort's name.

Ginny swiveled, catching Luna's attention so she turned as well. They were standing at a crosspath amongst the shelves and more Death Eaters had joined the rows, blocking out all four sides of escape. Luna and Ginny pressed back until they were back, to back, to back, with Ron, Hermoine, Harry and Neville. Luna held her wand hand as steady as she could, already reciting in her head the spells she'd need to escape.

She knew the moment to run was there when Harry yelled, "Now!"

Luna and Ginny sent double hexes towards the two Death Eaters their wands were pointing at. As the Death Eaters vanished into smoke, the six students took off running all in one direction. They had rounded the corner of one shelf when a Death Eater began forming in front of them.

Luna nearly collided with Neville's broad back as they all began to back up as one. Harry, Ron and Hermoine took off down one aisle, Neville and Ginny tearing down another. Luna stared, slightly terrified of the figure of the Death Eater in front of her, certain he was going to attack her. Lucius Malfoy had other prey in mind though as he vanished once more.

She let out a relieved breath, turning to run the opposite direction. She didn't see the smoke that had been forming behind her, the gleam of the Death Eater's mask, but there was no avoiding his fist which lashed out, striking her in the face.

She fell backwards with the force, her wand clattering to the ground and trying to roll away. Quickly she reached for it before it could get away from her grasp. Luna's fingers wrapped around the length of wood and she aimed it at the Death Eater saying, "_Levicorpus!"_

The spell hit the Death Eater directly in the chest and she put all her focus and energy into sending him flying up towards the ceiling. She stared up into the darkness which had swallowed him, slightly amazed and proud she had used such a difficult spell without error.

She couldn't celebrate her victory too long though because she could hear the others running through the row of prophecy orbs. There was no time to waste and she took off after the others, hoping to find them safe and unharmed by their attackers.

She heard a figure scurrying off to the right, pausing to duck down and check it out. She saw a flash of red, followed by a jet of blue before she abandoned her spot in favor of running as fast as she could.

Rounding a corner she crashed into someone and gasped thinking it was a Death Eater. Strong hands gripped her shoulders, forcing her back and Luna looked up into the scared, but determined face of Neville. "Are you alright Luna?" he asked her, his eyes scanning her for injuries.

"I think so," she told him.

He didn't look convinced as he reached up to touch the area of her lip that had split open when the Death Eater had hit her. "You're injured." 

"It doesn't hurt," she told him, fibbing a little. It did hurt if she focused on the injury, but her mind was too busy coming up with an escape route to notice the pain of her wound. He gently ran his thumb over her lip once more, then suddenly jerked it away as if burned, his face looking guilty. "Sorry," he mumbled an apology.

"What for?" Luna tilted her head curiously. Neville was turning a peculiar shade of red again, something she was noticing more frequently this day. Was he getting a fever?

Neville never got the chance to answer her question about his apology though because his eyes lifted over her head to see a shadow begin to form behind her, silver gleaming within the dark mist.

Luna felt Neville push her behind him and she turned just in time to hear him yell a curse, "_Petrificus Totalus_!" There was a jet of blue light from the tip of his wand and the Death Eater that had formed in front of them fell over, completely petrified from head to toe.

Luna felt her chest suffuse once again with the warmth of pride and accomplishment. She knew Neville struggled the most in the D.A. lessons and the fact he could pull off that curse so quickly to save the both of them was a sign of how much he had improved and developed in his defense skills.

He was standing over the petrified Death Eater, his wand hand trembling slightly, giving away his fear at the close call they nearly experienced. She felt a need to reassure him that they were alright and so she reached out to take his left hand saying, "Well done Neville."

He didn't glance at her, his eyes still on the Death Eater. They needed to leave so Luna gave a slight tug onto his hand to remind him of that fact and he let himself be pulled away by her.

**-HP-**

**Kat's Notes: Thank you to all my reviewers thus far! I'm glad to know you're enjoying these drabbles as much as I am writing them! I am just looney for Luna!**


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